Barclays has just launched what it's calling Europe's first person-to-person service for sending and receiving money using mobile phone numbers. 20,000 Brits signed up in the first two days. The bank's free mobile app, powered by Pingit, is free to download and use, and promises secure transfer of funds in seconds, which will show up immediately on customers' bank statements.
The Barclays Pingit mobile payment system is available to any UK resident with a UK registered mobile number. Users must be 16 or older (originally this was set at 18) and need an Android phone, BlackBerry or iPhone smartphone with web access. Barclays current account customers can send up to £300 a day to family, friends and small businesses. Non-Barclays customers with a current account can receive payments, and "soon they'll be able to send money too," according to the bank.
"Barclays' Pingit could revolutionise the way people send and receive money," stated Antony Jenkins, chief executive of Barclays retail and business banking, about the contactless payments launch. "For friends splitting the cost of dinner, repaying a borrowed £10 or people sending money to a son or daughter at university, it is free, quick, convenient, secure, and easy to use. You can send and receive money in seconds without having to enter account details. I'm sure we'll soon be wondering what we did before it."
According to ThisisMoney.co.uk the Pingit system is "threatening to become the industry standard." Royal Bank of Scotland, owner of NatWest, is understood to be looking at similar ideas as is Lloyds Banking Group. HSBC said it had no plans at the moment to launch a Pingit rival, but a spokesman said the move by Barclays was "certainly a step forward for the banking industry.'"
In the following video Sean Gilchrist, head of digital banking for Barclays, addressing the key question by consumers — security.
Barclays has also produced video tutorials (such as the one below) to educate and reassure customers, demonstrating how to register, send and receive money via the service.
